Why is the Immigration System Broken? Jonathan Blitzer on How American Foreign Policy in Central America Created a Crisis

Democracy Paradox

Written into the DNA of American immigration policy, which we tend to regard as a kind of domestic policy - and which in many ways it is - has to do with US foreign policy.

Jonathan Blitzer
This episode was made in partnership with the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy.
Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Learn more at https://kellogg.nd.edu
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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Jonathan Blitzer is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He won a 2017 National Award for Education Reporting for “American Studies,” a story about an underground school for undocumented immigrants. His writing and reporting have also appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Atavist, Oxford American, and The Nation. He is an Emerson Fellow at New America. His most recent book is Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis.
Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• Personal Experiences - 3:12
• Immigration and Foreign Policy - 12:25
• Migration as a Crisis - 31:20
• Bukele and El Salvador Today - 46:26

Key Links
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
“Do I Have to Come Here Injured or Dead?” by Jonathan Blitzer in The New Yorker
Follow Jonathan Blitzer on X @JonathanBlitzer
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Rachel Schwartz on How Guatemala Rose Up Against Democratic Backsliding
Joseph Wright and Abel Escribà-Folch on Migration’s Potential to Topple Dictatorships
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Capitole

1. Why is the Immigration System Broken? Jonathan Blitzer on How American Foreign Policy in Central America Created a Crisis (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:20)

3. Personal Experiences (00:03:12)

4. Immigration and Foreign Policy (00:12:25)

5. Migration as a Crisis (00:31:20)

6. Bukele and El Salvador Today (00:46:26)